Helen Yitah

Associate Professor & Head, Department of English, University of Ghana

Helen Yitah is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of English, University of Ghana. She is also founding Director of the University of Ghana-Carnegie Writing Centre, established through her initiative. She holds a BA and MPhil from the University of Ghana and a PhD from the University of South Carolina, Columbia. She has taught various courses on literature and writing at both universities. A literary scholar and cultural critic, she has published on gender identity in literature, particularly oral and written African literature, American literature and children’s literature in Ghana; and women’s cultural production in colonial and contemporary Africa. Her current work includes two edited books, Philosophical Foundations of the Humanities through Postcolonial Perspectives (Brill/Rodopi, 2016) and After the Ceremonies, a collection of poems by Ama Ata Aidoo (African Poetry Book Fund). She has supported literary and cultural activity in various ways, including serving on judging panels for the Millennium Excellence Awards (literature category) and the “Love on the Road” short fiction contest; as facilitator for the African Poetry Library project; editor of the MBAASEM/Daily Graphic Writers Page; and presenter for “Read a Book a Week,” a book review program on Radio Universe, University of Ghana.

Working Group Affiliation

The Rural-Urban Interface: Gender and Poverty in Ghana and Kenya, Statistics and Stories